Eads & Heald Wealth Management decreased its position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,265 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 978 shares during the quarter. Microsoft comprises approximately 1.4% of Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $2,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 499,849,770 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $45,621,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,488,089 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,956,647 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,912,713,000 after buying an additional 1,473,682 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.1% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,324,544 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,806,983,000 after buying an additional 726,904 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 2.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,594,679 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,514,597,000 after buying an additional 338,571 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 4.2% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 16,046,059 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,582,301,000 after buying an additional 640,977 shares during the period. 71.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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MSFT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “$104.40” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank reiterated a “$105.12” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 18th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a “$105.12” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 18th. Argus boosted their price target on Microsoft from $116.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “$107.97” rating in a research note on Monday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $121.88.

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $111.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.92 and a quick ratio of 2.85. Microsoft Co. has a fifty-two week low of $80.70 and a fifty-two week high of $116.18. The firm has a market cap of $829.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.26.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 24th. The software giant reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.18. Microsoft had a return on equity of 39.86% and a net margin of 16.38%. The firm had revenue of $29.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 14th. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 43.30%.

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.31, for a total transaction of $4,452,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 339,972 shares in the company, valued at $37,842,283.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy Hood sold 118,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.90, for a total transaction of $13,086,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 669,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,228,364.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 442,580 shares of company stock valued at $48,039,173 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

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